Digital music library

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Introduction

According to Wikipedia, “A music library contains music-related materials for patron use. Collections may also include non-print materials, such as digitized music scores or audio recordings. Use of such materials may be limited to specific patron groups, especially in private academic institutions. Music library print collections include dictionaries and encyclopedias, indexes and directories, printed music, music serials, bibliographies, and other music literature.” (Music library, retrieved 17:21, 9 September 2011 (CEST))

Note: This page never will become an index of download sites and commercial sheet music. It's main purpose is to describe what digital music libraries are and to provide links open and free resources.

See also:

List of repositories

MIDI

Some of these MIDI files are not suitable for displaying the score in a digital piano as is. Loading it into a music notation software or some other MIDI edit tool and then saving may help ...

Free midi

... there are many more

Commercial
Links (indexes)
MIDI search engines

Consult the MIDI File Search Engines list at notation software.

MusicXML

MusicXML is a transport format for music notation that is useful in addition to MIDI since it can include much more information.

Free

See the MusicXML Sites list at Recordare for more ...

Free printable Sheet music

Music scores can be published in PDF or other printable formats, as well as some kind of source format. Sometimes, MIDI files or audio files with free performances also can be found. Most free music is "classical" music, for obvious copyright reasons. Unfortunatley, not many modern artists agree to free their creations ...

  • Wikifonia
    • My favorite place for finding leadsheets (Jazz, Rock)


See also: Other sheet music sites (at WIMA)

Recording catalogues

  • MusicBrainz! is an open music encyclopedia that collects, and makes available to the public, music metadata.
  • Musipedia is a search engine for identifying pieces of music. “You can play it on a piano keyboard, whistle it to the computer, simply tap the rhythm on the computer keyboard or use the Parsons code.”

Links and Bibliography

Lists and portals

  • Virtual Library of Musicology. “ViFaMusik, the central portal for music and musicology, allows you to access an extensive digital library containing the latest scholarly research and online resources.”

Institutions

  • OMRAS2 project Online Music Recognition And Searching, or alternatively Ontology-driven Music Retrieval & Annotation Sharing service. Omras2 is a framework for annotating and searching collections of both recorded music and digital score representations such as MIDI. The project is funded by the EPSRC.

Publications

  • Bainbridge, D., Dewsnip, M. & Witten, I. H. (2005). Searching digital music libraries. Information Processing & Management, 41(1), 41-56. http://hdl.handle.net/10289/1299